New Hampton Tribune

Laura Jane Hucke dies at 77

Mon, 09/11/2017 - 12:20pmRuth

Laura Jane Hucke age 77, of Fredericksburg, died Wednesday Sept. 6, 2017 at her home surrounded by her family.

Funeral services were 11a.m. Saturday, Sept. 9, 2017, at Peace United Church of Christ of Fredericksburg with Rev. Betty Schmudlach officiating. Andy Jons will be the vocalist with Robin Jons the pianist, singing "How Can I Keep From Singing" and "I Can See Clearly Now".

Friends greeted the family 4 - 7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 8, 2017, at the Hugeback - Johnson Funeral Home in Fredericksburg with further visitation one hour prior to the service at the church on Saturday. Online condolences for Laura's family may be left at hugebackfuneralhome.com

Laura Jane Hucke was born December 1, 1939, at the Madison Church of Christ Parsonage in Brooklyn, Iowa the daughter of Herbert Arnold and Frances Helen (Graham) Kleiss. She attended country school near Brooklyn, and graduated from the Brooklyn High School. She was Co-Validictorian of her graduating class and won various solo and small group vocal music awards. Laura also spent one year of studies at Iowa State and one year at Bible College in Oklahoma City. In 2000, Laura took United Church of Christ seminary classes and graduated as a Lay Minister.

On Memorial Day in 1957, Laura met Roger Alan Hucke on a blind date arranged by Laura’s cousin, Bonnie (Kleiss) Erickson. They were united in marriage, February 26, 1960 at the Madison Church of Christ in Brooklyn. On November 14, 1961 they was blessed with the birth of their daughter, Robin and on February 2, 1967 their son Steve was born and was adopted into the family in May. The couple started their married life living in Arlington, Virginia. Roger had a civil service job working for the Marines and was already living there so after their marriage they spent one year in Arlington where Laura worked at the Northern Virginia Sun Newspaper. After realizing the city life wasn’t for them, they moved back to the Fredericksburg/Sumner area. In 1974 they purchased and moved their family to the Hucke Family Farm. The farm has been in the Hucke family since 1902 when Roger’s grandfather purchased it.

Laura was a stay at home mom from 1960 – 1991, devoting her time, love and attention to her two children. In 1991 she became the Assistant Librarian at the Upham Memorial Library in Fredericksburg. She also was a licensed Lay Pastor for the United Church of Christ in Fredericksburg from 2000 – 2004, becoming the associate Pastor for four years. Laura was always very active in the UCC Peace Church, helping with Sunday School, Bible School, Women’s Bible Study groups, Choir, Youth Musical Programs and Women Fellowship. She also did a year of Supply Preaching. She was the Pastor at the Clarksville UCC for two years and also the New Hampton and Ionia UCC Congregational Churches, until she retired in May of 2013.

Laura was the Dairy Princess Chairperson at Dairy Days for two years, also helping with Cancer Bike-A-Thons and Summer Reading Programs. She loved her Card Club, bird watching,tending to her plants and flowers, reading and studying. She was a very organized person and loved to plan activities and trips. She founded the Hucke/Mitchell Singers, arranging and producing the music, writing the scripts, and directing the programs. She was a gifted writer, and wrote wonderful stories for her grandkids.